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News > Latin America

Record Amount of Renewables Capacity Added in 2016: UN

  • The average expenditure per megawatt for both wind and solar energy has dropped by about 10 percent compared to last year

    The average expenditure per megawatt for both wind and solar energy has dropped by about 10 percent compared to last year | Photo: AFP

Published 6 April 2017
Opinion

The renewables capacity brought online in 2016 is equivalent to that of the world's 16 largest power producing facilities combined.

The world added a record 138.5 gigawatts of renewable power capacity in 2016 despite a 23 percent drop in investment, reflecting the falling cost of clean energy, the United Nations announced Thursday.

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The new energy — mainly from wind and solar installations, but not including large hydro projects — was up 8 percent from the previous year, on global investment of US$242 billion.

Investment in fossil fuel-based energy was approximately half that amount in 2016, according to a report jointly published by U.N. Environment and Bloomberg New Energy Finance, BNEF.

"Ever-cheaper clean tech provides a real opportunity for investors to get more for less," said Erik Solheim, Executive Director of U.N. Environment.

The new figures come a day after Europe's energy utilities dealt a body blow to the coal industry by pledging that no new coal-fired power plants would be built after 2020.

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